NEWS
Deputy State House Press Officer Named as New Observer Editor-in-Chief
BY OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT



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October 8, 2005
The Assistant Press officer at the Sate House in Banjul Mam Sait Ceesay
has been named as the Editor-in-Chief of Gambia's pro-government
Newspaper, the Daily Observer, The ALLGAMBIAN online Newspaper can reveal.

Mr. Ceesay, replaces sacked Observer editor Lamin Cham, who was fired
Wednesday alongside with the paper's managing Director Momodou Sanyang.
The two dismissed Observer management members were accused of trying to
undermine dictator President Yahya Jammeh's government by reporting a news
item on the recent Chamber of Commerce meeting with Jammeh, which sources
say was perceived to be critical of the Jammeh government. The meeting
which attracted top Chamber of Commerce officials was geared towards
finding a lasting solution to The Gambia/Senegal border crisis, which
observers say had almost paralysed the fragile economy of the tiny West
African country.

The sacking of Lamin Cham and his boss Sanyang followed Cham's alleged
refusal to heed to calls made by State House deputy press officer Mam Sait
Ceesay to drop the said story, which sources say was considered by Ceesay
as not fit for publication. Insiders at the Observer who spoke to The
ALLGAMBIAN hinted that Cham's firing was masterminded by Mam Sait Ceesay
who reportedly told President Jammeh that the sacked editor never heeded
to his call to drop the economic piece meeting. Mam Sait Ceesay said our
sources went as far as branding Lamin Cham as an opposition sympathiser,
whom he accused of disobeying an order emanating from sate house in
Banjul.

The ALLGAMBIAN also gathered that both Mam Sait Ceesay and observer's new
MD Dr. Saja Taal Friday visited the Observer, where they told local
staffers that "they are now in control of the paper and solicited the
cooperation of the paper's staff". Accompanied by GRTS program manager
Momodou Sanyang, Taal and Ceesay announced that they will officially start
work on Monday.

Insiders at the Observer say they feel intimidated by the presence of
messrs Taal, Ceesay and Sanyang at the paper since according to them the
three had said they were there to correct certain things going on at the
paper. "Everybody is panicking here. Dr. Taal was heard saying that any
journalist who fail to toe to his line will leave the paper. He said the
paper must concentrate on the development projects initiated by the
government and stop giving unnecessary coverage to the opposition. He made
the statement during his meeting with the paper's editorial staff. We are
really worried about his statement." said an insider who wished not to be
named.



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